Animals Founding Guitarist Hilton Valentine Dies at 77 | Pop and rock

Hilton Valentine, founder guitarist of the 60s group The Animals, died at the age of 77.

Valentine’s death was confirmed by the label of the band ABKCO Music, who wrote in a statement on Twitter on the night of Satur: “Our deepest condolences go to the family and friends of Hilton Valentine for his death this morning, at the age of 77.”

“Founding member and original guitarist for Animals, Valentine was a pioneering guitarist who influenced the sound of rock and roll in the coming decades.”

Valentine, from North Shields, near Newcastle, formed Animals in 1963 along with Northeastern singer Eric Burdon, bassist Chas Chandler, organist Alan Price and drummer John Steel.

The band’s most famous song, a cover version of the standard blues The House Of The Rising Sun, topped the charts in the UK and the United States in 1964. They had a string of hits with other reformulations of classic blues songs, like Don ‘t Let Me Be Misundersained and We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, before the band disbanded in the late 1960s.

Burdon paid tribute to Valentine on Instagram, writing: “Rising Sun’s opening opus will never sound the same! … You didn’t just play, you lived! Heartbroken by the sudden news of Hilton’s death.

“We had a great time together, Geordie boy. From North Shields to the whole world … Rock In Peace. “

Valentine’s part of his success has entered the annals of rock history, with his introduction Rising Sun, known to millions of guitarists in training around the world.

Critic Colin Larkin summed up the song’s dramatic impact in his Virgin Encyclopaedia of Popular Music: “Valentine’s legendary yet simplistic guitar intro [Alan] Price’s strident organ complemented [Eric] Burdon’s mature and horrifying vocal. “